Thursday, August 29, 2013

I have
needed to ask Heavenly Father for help so much this past week because I
am the one, from my district, that knows the most spanish.... My district has 12 people and all of us got here last
tuesday evening and 10 of us are leaving for Texas Houston East the same
day, and the other two leave for Nicaragua that day :) I have a feeling
I will know a few people in my mission :P

On the
second day of actually being at the MTC (which is actually the
CCM--pronounced say-say-emmay--Centro de Compacitacion Misional México),
which was Thursday
of last week, we met with our new branch presidency. They brought
each of us in for an "interview" which was really just us bearing our
testimonies. I bore my entire testimony in spanish, okay, two words were
in English, but that doesn't matter. I was called back in again, after
everyone was done, and they asked me to be the District Leader...I had no
idea what i had just been assigned to do, but its nice to know that
everyone in my district looks up to me :) I am already our language
teacher's favorite and he also has asked me to help the others learn
spanish...gulp...that scared me, but I know God qualifies those whom He
calls, so I have faith.

1) Mom, a ton of people arrived on Tuesday and then the Hispanics(native speaking missionaries) arrived on Wednesday. We have two native speakers in our dorm. I actually talked to them a little when we first met them. I felt the earthquake on wednesday,
when i was doing my personal study in the morning on my bed, my
companion was standing up and didn't feel it, but he is from Utah, so I
don't expect him to know exactly what an earthquake feels like :P

2) our
teacher Hermano Cruz immerses us in as much spanish as he can during
class, but I can't really communicate, using spanish, with my companion yet
because he knew exactly 2 phrases in spanish when he arrived here, Hola and
Adiós...I have been helping him learn Spanish. By now we have talked a
bunch to the Hispanics because they are awesome and i help the others
communicate with them.. We have even played football with them (like
fútbol or football to any other country, not american football)

3) Teaching was really difficult the first time (the
3rd day we were here...last friday. :/) because my companion cant speak
much spanish and we didnt know how to prepare well... We have taught 5
lessons in spanish now. We practice our spanish lessons with a mock investigator who 'had a desire to get closer to God'. we arent meeting with
him anymore because, starting tomorrow,
he will be one of our teachers, but during the lessons, especially when
my companion and i are bearing our testimonies, i felt the spirit so strongly :)

4) there are 6 people in our little apartment, but there are 3 rooms, one for each companionship

5)
to be honest, I have no idea what kind of food they are feeding us...
they usually have a dessert type thing and one time it was the texture
of jello/pudding, yes that is not a normal texture, it was like pudding,
but held more of its shape like jello... they have no syrup, they
only have flavored syrups and jam and i want syrup for the times they
give us mexican pancakes and waffles :) And idk who said that id get fat off of
mexican sweet bread, but now i know why they said that, it is AMAZING!!

México es muy
bien! is verano weather? THE WEATHER IS GREAT! even better than
California :P it is the perfect temperature all the time here, there are
no bugs and it rains every couple of days. in fact right now it is
about 70 degrees, like always.

On Saturday or Sunday,
I was writing in my journal and without thinking about it, i thought of
every word i was going to write in spanish, and then I had to really concentrate on writing
english, instead of spanish...it was weird...

We were able to attend the temple today, and I was thinking about you all. I love you guys, and
am thankful that the temple is where families can remain as families for eternity. A blessing brought about because of the restoration of the Gospel and God's priesthood.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

So today Elder Scott Dye has officially started his 1st day as a missionary in Mexico City, and was welcomed with a 6.2 earthquake! http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/08/21/earthquake-shakes-mexico-city/?test=latestnews
There
is that old saying "No news is good news." We only have the contact that he made with us last night
letting his family know that he is well and made it safely there. We have not heard anything from Mexico City today, so "no news is good news." Below
is part of his 'I am here' email...

Hello family!

I just got here
to the Mexico MTC and it is beautiful and amazing! I had a delay for my
first flight from San Jose to LA, and I had to check my carry-on because
the bins above were tiny. In LAX, while waiting for my carry-on bag to
be returned, I started talking to the guy who sat across the aisle from
me on the first flight. I got to tell him about my mission and he seemed
really interested and he was nice. LAX is so huge I almost couldn't
get to my next flight because I didn't know where to go... Luckily I
found someone to help me and I was soon on my way to the new terminal.
While waiting in line for going through security, again, I talked with
another guy about my mission, so it was really fun! I was super
confused when I got to my gate because there was no other elders there,
though I remember the Missionary Travel lady said that there should be a
group because LA is a hub for the Mexico MTC. I got to Mexico and I
found my way to the brother who picked me up, and now I'm checked into the MTC.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Today I had the opportunity to have a video chat with all of my sisters and their families for Family Home Evening. My stake president, President Knudsen, was with us, and asked everyone in my family to share one of their favorite scriptures that they want me to take with me on my mission and the reason behind why it is one of their favorite scriptures. After everyone shared their favorite scripture, President Knudsen, along with President Nef, Bishop Dorff, and my dad laid their hands on my head and President Knudsen set me apart as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and gave me a wonderful blessing for my mission.

Tomorrow morning I fly to Mexico City to go to the Missionary Training Center (MTC)! I can't wait to be on my mission!

This is the blog that my family will keep up to date with email updates of my mission overall that I send for friends and family to read. The posts will be for all friends and family and won't be personalized for people, but if you want a personal email, my email will be stanley.dye@myldsmail.net and I would love to hear from everyone, but don't be offended if you do not receive a reply soon after you send me an email, I will have limited email time.

About Me

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and have made my decision to serve my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for 2 years before heading to college. I've been called to serve a Spanish speaking mission in Houston Texas, and am excited to be able to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. Though I've always been a member of this church, it was my choice to serve a mission. I'm excited to bring the plan of happiness to others, and help them to heighten their joys here on earth, and in the eternities to come.